Keely Pt. 10 and Done

Okay, this is a mess, but I think it is all fixable. I'll find out in a week or so when I get to editing and rewriting. I need some time to let it cook before that. If you have any suggestions for the writing or the story, let me know so I'll have them when I do the tighten up.

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I moved my Orthochair directly in front of the exit door and resumed my vigil. I was too hyped to continue reading, so I just sat and thought about the events that had occurred so far and what might be going on in the Past at this very moment. I was eager for this to be over and my family members returned safely. There was a second when they all stirred briefly, but they returned quickly to stillness. They were then gone for several hours. When they finally did come back or come to or whatever it is that happens, I was completely unprepared for what I was being told.

That was awesome was essentially what everyone had to say. They had been through Keely’s life hitting all the high points and were babbling about it like they had just seen a great holoflick. Keely’s mom, Heather, said it was like Keely’s whole life had been filmed and now she could watch whatever part she wanted to. My son Don, Keely’s dad, looked in shock. He was shaking his head and babbling “amazing, amazing” over and over. My other son, Uncle Todd was laughing, making jokes, teasing Keely about different parts of her life. Keely's two brothers were swapping jibes in a did you see when I did this and that kind of way.

I stood there and watched them somewhat dumbfounded. Were they putting me on? Finally I just had to ask. “What about Hsub” I said. “Jorge Hsub.”

The hubbub quieted and they looked at me quizzically like I was doing something old man weird that they couldn’t quite follow. They all suddenly sported expressions that said I’m sorry did I hear you right or I don’t quite understand where you are going with that as with one voice they jointly chorused, “who?”

“Jorge Hsub” I repeated and they all looked even stranger.

That’s when Keely jumped in. “Don’t worry Gramps” she said. “I’ll explain it all later.

(Before I get to Keely’s explanation I need to make one small alteration to the story as it is told so far. Keely’s little speech to the family just prior to their going Traveling will not include any reference to Hsub. Only she and I will know that we are hunting him. As for my gathering the troops to aid Keely, I will have mentioned there is danger but not given it a name. Afterwards, they will have chalked up my histrionics as a ruse to be sure they all came to the Institute.)

When everyone one had calmed down and promises of further trips were extracted from Keely, we all had dinner at an Instadine where it was possible to order any food you had ever heard of. Of course it was all pseudo, but it tasted like the real thing. Being both old and old fashioned, I had the fried chicken from Nelvis Café in Boquete, Panama where I live. Following the meal everyone went their separate way with Keely promising to see me safely to my home. On the way there, in the Institute’s private Whisperjet, she told me what had happened.

“I put them all into Hsub’s lifestream,” she began, “just like we planned. I waited in my own, knowing that at some point Hsub would have to go there. I guessed that when he entered the Past and encountered our people poking about, he would want to return to the Present to figure it out, but he wouldn’t go through his lifeline because he could then be followed and we would learn the whereabouts of his laboratory. He did what I expected and slipped into my lifestream. Instead of going to the Past to find me, he returned to the Present and encountered you and your silver suit. Nice work there Grandpa. If he returned to his own Past he knew that everyone waiting was similarly suited and I doubt if he would want to go through that agony again. He slid back into my stream and I could feel his presence immediately. Might have had something to do with the added charge his body was carrying around. I wasn’t sure if what I was about to do would work, but I had to try it. I showed myself, briefly, in the near Past, just enough that he could see I wasn’t silver wrapped, and then I fled. I ran further and further back into my Past pausing here and there to be sure he was still on my track. I returned eventually to MIT. I was there the day Hsub attacked Professor Winters our Physics guru. In fact, my boyfriend Theo and I had heard the professor’s shouts for help and were headed to the lab when Hsub came bolting down the hallway and ran right by us. You will remember Grandpa, that at the bridge, there was no one there to help me when Hsub grabbed me and I had to use my own wits to escape. This time I stopped next to Theo and waited. Hsub was now moving backwards in time when he got to me and not forward through it as he had been after attacking Professor Winter. He didn’t realize that at the exact moment in his own life stream he would be running by me. In his anger he appeared next to me and grabbed me for a second time. Theo went ape and as you saw earlier, Grandpa, Theo is a big boy. I started screaming and pretty soon campus security guards were dragging Hsub away. What happened next baffled me for awhile until I picked up the thread of Hsub’s lifestream that ended the day after that encounter. Hsub, depressed and now facing prison, hung himself in jail. Jorge Hsub the terrorist and the atrocities he committed never happened. How this affects us in the Present I can’t really say. There are a lot of people alive who wouldn’t be, that’s for sure, but whether they will change the world for good or bad remains to be seen. So far, you would have to say, so good.”

“What about your Mom and Dad and brothers and Todd?” I asked. “I don’t understand what happened with them.”

“The moment Hsub died they were gone from his life stream and were back here for a second or two before I quickly put them into mine and gave them the tour. To them and to everyone else, Hsub, if remembered at all, was only an annoying child. You and I Grandpa. You and I, know better. We saved the world.”

We flew along in silence for a little while after that until I remembered where this had all started. “Keely” I said. “You haven’t finished showing me your life. There is so much more I want to see. All of it, in fact."

I’ll clear my schedule and in a few weeks you can come back for another ‘trip’. We can start in the second grade when I won the high jump at field day. Right now though, I’m going to enjoy the Present. By the way, how’s that new liver of yours holding up.?”

“Great,” I replied, “just great.”

“Alrighty then,” said Keely, “it's time to break out the scotch."

Kid is definitely my granddaughter.